Emily Backs Down
by ShropshireLass
Summary: The day after TOW The Yeti. Ross is alone in the new apartment when Emily turns up, giving in on everything so as to rescue the marriage - but does she have a hidden reason for this?
1. A Change Of Heart

****

Emily arrives at the apartment

The evening after his marriage broke up, Ross was sitting alone in his new apartment filled with not quite enough new furniture. He hadn't been able to get any of his old furniture back to make up the deficits yet, although tomorrow he'd have another try at persuading Gunther.

Apart from getting his furniture back, he didn't know what he was going to do next. He'd given up his old apartment and he'd come here, at Emily's insistence. It wasn't a bad place, in fact it would be a great place, if it was somewhere else. Closer to everyone else. But distance had been the point. It had turned out to be for nothing.

Any minute now he expected that he would be told to leave. He could imagine the cousin saying,

Why should I let you live in my flat now that you're no longer family?' He was pretty sure that everyone in Emily's family must hate him. If he got kicked out, he supposed that he could stay with Chandler and Joey. The thought depressed him. Squeezing into a flat with those two - where would all his stuff go? Even if he had no furniture at all, he still had an enormous amount of stuff.

He heard a knock on the door. Who could it be at this time of night? If it had been one of the others, they would have called first. There was no way that they'd come all the way across town on the chance that he'd be there - although the way he was feeling, why would he go anywhere else? Slowly, he got up to answer the door.

To his shock, Emily was standing in the doorway with a suitcase in each hand.

Emily,' Ross stared.

Hello,' she said nervously.

What are you doing here?' he asked. She was still standing in the doorway.

I, I came to see you.' Ross noticed her bags.

To see me?'

I came to ask if you'd give this another chance. I know what I said over the phone butYou told me you don't trust me.' He remembered what he'd gone through since he last spoke to her. 'You think you can just turn up, and say, say you've changed your mind?' She backed away from him. 'You know, it hurts when someone doesn't trust you.'

'I'm sorry.'

'You can't just walk in here and say "Sorry," you have to say more than that, you have to say you trust me, and mean it and not make any conditions at all.' Emily had retreated to the opposite wall under his verbal onslaught.

'Yes,' she said quietly.

'What?' He had expected some kind of argument. What did she mean by just saying 'yes'?

'I want to make this marriage work. I don't want to throw it away. So-so I've come to ask if you will try again, make a new start. I won't say anything about who you see, I, I'll trust you.' Ross stared at her in shock. Complete capitulation was not what he'd expected. He had fantasised about it yes, but not expected. 'Is it really too late?' Her mouth was trembling.

No, no of course not. I — I'm glad you came.' He just wasn't prepared for it. She had sounded too definite. She was still holding her bags, looking down at the floor. 'Here, I'll take those, come in, come in.' He took her bags and ushered her into the flat. He was stunned and surprised, but suddenly filled with hope for the future. What he felt like doing right now was ringing up everyone and shouting,

'Woo hoo! I'm still married.' But he'd leave that until tomorrow.


	2. First Night

****

First Night

Ross brought Emily inside and started showing her around the apartment, which she hadn't seen before.

'It's a bit short of furniture,' he said. She knew perfectly well why he was short of furniture, and he went on and said, 'I've got to get some of my old stuff here.' She had to know that he was not going to make any more changes for her. He was stuck with the apartment, having surrendered his old one, but apart from that, he'd be living life as before. He'd see who he wanted, when he wanted, live with whatever furniture he wanted and he wasn't going to tell Emily where he was and what he was doing unless he felt like it.

Emily sat down on one of the few chairs in the main room and said nothing, looking around the room. He looked closely at her for any sign of dissent, ready to crush it, but saw none. He breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to have to fight her and he was glad that she seemed so compliant.

'It'll be great once we get my old stuff here,' he enthused. He watched as Emily got up and walked into the second bedroom, which was completely empty. He followed her. 'I was going to turn this into a study,' Ross said. 'I need somewhere to keep my boxes.' He had boxes and boxes of things in the main room, which made it feel like a store room.

'I see,' Emily said. She wandered over to the window and traced her hand on the sill. Feeling generous, Ross said,

'We'll probably need some more furniture, even if I do get some of my old stuff back - Gunther bought it from me and he's being difficult about selling it back to me. I might not get all of it back - some of it wasn't very good furniture anyway. You can pick the new furniture, I don't mind. It's your home too.' She nodded slightly and walked to the main bedroom.

He followed her in and watched as she stood at the end of bed, studying it. It was new, used by no-one but him. That was one expense he'd incurred for her that he didn't mind. A nice new mattress was always a good thing. When he had been choosing it, he had been anxious that things would not work out, and his thoughts about the mattress had been merely prosaic, along the lines of back support and whether he would sleep on it well. Now he began to have other thoughts. Taking her hand, he said, 'We need to initiate this bed.' A change came over her. Up until then, she had been quiet and apparently unsure of herself. Now she took the lead, and there was no more talking from him, and no more uncertainty from her.

In the middle of the night he was woken by a growing awareness that someone was crying, which was totally at odds with the wonderful dream he'd been having. He frowned. That wasn't right at all. Sleep receded, and he realised that the crying was real and that it was Emily. Because she was crying into her pillow, the sound wasn't loud, but it was unmistakeable for anything else. How could she be crying?

Why are you crying sweetie?' he asked.

I'm sorry to wake you,' she said, making herself stop. 'It's nothing, go back to sleep.'

'I can't. I want to know why you're crying,' Ross insisted. It was inexplicable. They were back together again, and all their problems were solved. There was no reason for her to be unhappy or anxious about anything. He wished he could see her face properly but he didn't have any bedside lamp to illuminate her.

'I'm just homesick that's all, nothing to worry about,' she said.

This is your home Emily.'

'I know,' she said. He embraced her and said,

'You're not going anywhere. Let's go back to sleep. It's late.' Or early, or something.

'Oh you've got work tomorrow!' she said in hushed tones.

'Yeah.' Or today.

'I'd better get up and let you sleep then,' Emily said.

'No don't.'

'But I can't sleep,' she said. 'I'm jet lagged. If I stay in bed, I'll only keep you awake.' It was true that her sleep patterns had been disturbed before, especially just after she returned from trips to London. Well she wouldn't be going there for a while.

'I'll be fine,' Ross said, wanting her next to him. He'd spent enough nights without her.

'I'll disturb you,' she said, and he acquiesced. Before he knew it, he was asleep.


	3. Preparation

Of course the next thing was to bring Emily to meet everyone else. Ross wondered how that would go. Each one of them, except for Rachel, had spoken out against her because of her ultimatum, and they were going to have to get used to the fact that she'd changed her mind. He remembered what had been said with unease – maybe they had been so emphatic against her because they were trying to cheer him up. Now that he thought back to it all, he hoped that they hadn't really meant it. Whether they did or not, they would have to put aside their feelings and try to accept her. He was sure that they would, he thought buoyantly. They had got on well with her before, there was no reason why that shouldn't happen again, especially when they saw how happy he was.

From work, he phoned Monica.

'Guess what!' he shouted into the phone.

'Ow,' Monica protested. 'Don't shout.'

'Sorry, Monica – Woo Hoo! I'm still married!' He felt like laughing.

'What? I don't understand,' she said, sounding mystified.

'Emily came to me last night, and we're going to start again. I'm not getting a divorce.' He couldn't stay sitting and stood up. 'I've got a wife!' Someone walked past his office and stared at him, but he didn't care.

'Wow, that's great Ross,' Monica said, trying to calm him down. What was going on?

'I'm so happy!' he said. Why had things changed?

'So what's happened about Rachel? Is she going to trust you?' Rachel asked.

'Yes.'

'She gave up, just like that?' Monica asked, doubtfully. She had felt so strongly about it that she had ended the marriage – or at least attempted to.

'Yes. She loves me Monica,' he said. 'So she gave up all her demands, every single one of them. We're going to start all over again, and put all that behind us. It's going to be great Monica, I just know it!'

'Right,' Monica said. Had she really done that? 'Then she'll be able to come to Central Perk this evening.'

'Oh sure,' Ross said. 'I want to see you guys. It'll be great.' After he rang off, Monica wondered about that. Really wondered.

At lunch time, she went over to Bloomingdales to meet Rachel. She was pretty sure that even if Ross tried to call everyone, he wouldn't be able to contact Rachel at work. She would need to be warned about the Central Perk plan – she couldn't let Rachel just walk into the place and see Emily there. Rachel was glad to get away at lunch. They went to a nearby café where both had a salad.

'I just feel so embarrassed every time I see Mr Waltham,' she said. 'Even though I didn't do anything. It wasn't my fault.'

'Is he being mean to you?' Monica asked with concern. It was bad enough that Ross had suffered, it was terrible that Rachel had suffered, poor thing. Realising that she was still in love with Ross – and Monica hadn't been aware of it. Attending the wedding, being made the centre of attention by Ross's mistake, and then the airport thing, going on the honeymoon on her own, being the object of pity. Getting the blame for everything from Emily because of the thing with the names and then the airport – if she was going to be late to the airport, why couldn't she have been even later? Of all the rotten luck. Rachel had been willing to make sacrifices so that Ross could be happy, but Emily hadn't given her any credit for that. Not that Emily had known about it, Monica grudgingly admitted.

'No, he's just the same, but you can't tell with these English people, they're so reserved,' Rachel said.

'Not all of them,' Monica said, pointedly. 'Some are very good at showing their feelings.'

'What do you mean, Mon?' Rachel asked.

'Well Rachel, prepare yourself. Emily came back.'

'She came back!' Rachel said, 'Oh no, that's awful. That means we're not going to see Ross, and he's going to be miserable – or I'll have to…'

'You won't have to do anything. Apparently. Ross says she's changed her mind.'

'She's changed her mind? How did that happen?' Monica shrugged.

'I have no idea. Ross says she's given up on everything. No demands, conditions or anything.'

'I see,' Rachel said. 'So they're going to make a fresh start.' So now they were going to have to get used to Emily being a fact in their lives.

'It looks like it,' Monica said. 'I don't want my brother to get another divorce, and he sounds so happy, but I just wonder how genuine Emily is being.'

'You think she's lying?' Rachel asked with a frown. She had never got to know Emily well enough to know whether she was the sort of person who would tell lies or not.

'I don't know. But she had such strong objections to you – has she just put all that aside?' Monica worried. 'What if she says she'd going to change, but then still feels the same?'

'I don't know Mon, but you can't control someone's feelings, and even if she still hates me, if she loves Ross, she'll try and keep it under control,' Rachel said.

'I don't want her to hate you,' Monica said, 'She shouldn't hate you.' She sighed. 'But then, if Ross loves her and she loves him, what are we going to do? Say that they have to get divorced because she doesn't like one of his friends?' Rachel shook her head sadly.

'I guess we'll have to see what happens when we meet.'

'We are,' Monica said, 'If you feel like it.' Rachel looked at her sharply. 'She's coming to Central Perk this evening. Of course, you don't have to come if you don't want to.' Rachel lifted up her chin.

'Oh I'll be there. I've got a better right to be there than she has. Even more than you.' Monica looked at her carefully. Rachel was looking determined.

'Rachel,' she said, 'How are you going to be?' Rachel hadn't decided that yet. 'If there's going to be trouble between you, please let it be her fault. Let Ross see that you are doing your best.'

'Of course,' Rachel said. 'I'll be friendly.'


	4. Not Everyone's Going To Play Along

As far as the rest of them were concerned, it wasn't so easy.

'So you mean,' said Joey, in his usual place at Central Perk, 'That she's just come back, because she's changed her mind?' Chandler was next to Monica, and Rachel and Phoebe were sitting together.

'Well, yes,' Monica said, 'But that's a good thing isn't it?'

'Is it?' Joey glowered. Chandler hadn't said anything about it yet, but he did not look as though he would be welcoming of Emily, when she turned up. Phoebe too, was looking resistant. Monica felt that she had to try and make some progress with them before Emily turned up. Emily was now a part of her family, and it was going to be difficult for her if half of her friends hated her. And not just difficult for Monica either. How would Ross feel if they didn't treat Emily with a bit of friendliness? It would drive just the sort of division between them that Emily's demand would have if Ross had gone along with it. If they couldn't like her, they at least had to be able to get along so that the rest of them could still be friends. It would have been nice if they could all be friends, but if they could at least just put up with Emily, that would be something. There were lots of people who were good friends, even if one of them was married to someone who wasn't a friend.

'Ross is happy. If she can make him happy, that's good,' Monica said.

'What really happened?' Chandler asked, 'Is she really going to change her mind about Rachel?' He glanced over at Rachel who had been the latest arrival. She had mentally prepared herself for this meeting and she felt no need to add to the conversation.

'Apparently yes.' She looked at the others, 'You know Ross, in the end, he wouldn't agree, so the only way they could be together is if she dropped her demands and started trusting him, so that's what's happened.'

'You don't trust a person just because you've been told to,' Chandler said, 'You either do or you don't. If she didn't trust him before, then I don't see how she's suddenly going to start trusting him now.'

'She's going to try, that's the important thing,' Monica said.

'So she says,' Joey said.

'We just have to see if she's as good as her word, but we might know that once we see how she behaves without being mean. If we're mean to her, then it might just make things worse,' Monica said firmly, 'So please don't judge her prematurely. If Ross is happy and she's not mean to Rachel, then we can deal with her, can't we? I don't know how I'm going to feel about her myself, but if we begin by acting hostile, then it's not going to work out.'

'Ross chose us over her, when it came down to it,' Joey said stubbornly, 'If it doesn't work, then she'll go away and it will be back the way it was.'

'I can't believe you're being so selfish,' Monica snapped at him, outraged, 'If it doesn't work, my brother will be getting a divorce – his second divorce, which will be terrible for him – you saw how he was the other night – and if you're mean to Emily maybe he'll think again about you.' Joey looked crushed by this momentarily, but then said,

'How do you know she's not just faking this to get Ross back? How do you know she's not going to slowly poison him against us? To make it just how she wants.'

'Hey Joe –' Chandler said, thinking he was going too far.

'She failed to blackmail him into doing what she wanted, so she's probably just going to manipulate it the way she wants instead,' Joey said, 'You wait, she'll fake nice, and then you'll see.' He looked at Rachel, 'I don't understand how you can just sit there, she hates you, and you're going to be nice to her.' Rachel shrugged. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous.

'She was upset by me, scared of me,' Rachel said.

'And she hates you, and probably all of us.'

'That attitude isn't going to help,' Monica said severely.

'Well,' Joey said, 'I'm not staying, you can stay and have her wreck everything but I'm not getting involved,' and as he left, he pushed past Emily at the doorway.


	5. The Opening Dynamic

**The opening dynamic**

As the door shut behind Emily, she stood there alone, looking at them fearfully, as though she would, at the slightest excuse, bolt. Each of them were contemplating what had happened and had not at first remembered to speak, but suddenly Monica was aware that the silence was growing markedly.

'Hey, er Emily.' Phoebe, who had been sceptical of any change in Emily, suddenly felt sorry for her and said more brightly,

'Come over here, sit by me.' She patted the couch beside her, and Emily came over, exchange awkward greetings with everyone, stumbling over Rachel's and blushing. Rachel was composed but quiet – they all were.

'Where's Ross?' Monica asked, to cover up the silence that settled.

'He said he was coming later. He said for me to come by myself.' Suddenly Monica thought how mean it was of her brother to send Emily along by herself like that, at their first meeting, when he knew it was going to be difficult. Not mean, she amended, but certainly thoughtless. It would never occur to him that it might be hard for her – and let's face it, for them too. He should be there, to help bridge the gaps.

'Well, er, do you want a coffee? Something to eat?' Chandler asked, seeking an opportunity to get away – hopefully the others would have broken the ice by the time he came back.

'Just a coffee thankyou,' Emily said, reaching in her purse for some money. Embarrassed, Chandler waved it away.

'I don't need that.' He took an order for coffee from Monica too, and left the four of them together. There was another silence as Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe wondered what to say. Rachel was sitting on the other side of Phoebe. She exchanged glances with Monica, as if to say she was doing her best.

'How are you?' Emily asked Phoebe, surprising them all by being the one to speak. 'The last time I saw you…'

'Oh yeah,' Phoebe said, 'I know, I was the size of a house. Yeah, I'm fine now.'

'It was very good of you do to do what you did for your brother,' Emily said.

'I was happy to do it,' she said.

'To go through all of that discomfort and pain,' Emily said.

'There wasn't that much pain,' Phoebe said, 'It was nothing, really.'

'Nothing?' Rachel and Monica said together. Monica added, 'That's not how I remember it.'

'Not at all,' Rachel said.

'It was all worth it,' Phoebe concluded. 'And I'm getting back to normal now. Hey cut the wise crackin',' she told Rachel and Monica.

'I never said anything,' Rachel said.

'You were thinking it,' Phoebe said.

'Who was thinking?' Chandler said, returning with a mild coffee for Emily and a strong one for himself. 'I've got some tylenol somewhere…' Monica aimed a slap at him, and he gave her a surreptitious nudge back. There was some adjusting. 'Now that reminds me of a funny story I heard,' he said when they'd settled again. This earned him a smile from Monica, the reason he'd thought so hard to come up with something. 'There was this woman who owned a dog, a sausage dog –'

'A dackle!' Rachel exclaimed, 'They're so funny.'

'I feel sorry for the poor things,' Phoebe said. 'with their short little legs and those long backs, you know, how do they get downstairs without falling over?'

'You'd have to carry them,' Rachel said. 'They wouldn't be very heavy.'

'They can be,' Emily said suddenly, and then hesitated when everyone looked at her. 'They can overeat, if you let them,' she said haltingly, 'Our next door neighbour had one, and it got terribly overweight and it looked terrible, except for its face. It - it had such sweet little ears.'

'They do, don't they?' Rachel said, 'So cute. And the way they sort of turn their heads at an angle…'

'Thanks,' Chandler said, getting back in control, 'So there was a woman with a sausage dog and – '

'What kind?' Rachel asked.

'What do you mean, what kind?'

'Well, long hair or short haired, brown or black?' Rachel said.

'What's that got to do with anything?' Chandler asks.

'It helps to build up the picture,' Rachel explained.

'I don't know what kind it was,' Chandler said, 'I'm not an eyewitness to this story, I'm just telling you what I heard.'

'Let Chandler finish,' Monica said, but just then Ross came in and everyone greeted him. Monica had enough presence of mind to keep an eye on Emily. When Ross came in, her eyes lit up, just as they should, and she stood up to receive his kiss hello. There was no room for him to sit next to Emily and he sat near Rachel without waiting for anyone to offer to rearrange themselves. At this, Emily looked alarmed, but sat back down again. She cast a quick anxious glance at Ross, who was obliviously chatting about how he'd gotten there from work, and then looked at the floor, biting her lip. Monica could no longer see the expression in her eyes, but she could see one of Emily's hands as she gripped the edge of the couch, her knuckles white. Phoebe couldn't see any other this, without making a point of the fact that she was observing Emily, but she couldn't help noticing the tension and the effort she was making to control her breathing. Rachel wasn't in a position to see anything, and Chandler only noticed that Emily was looking at the floor, but since that had not been much different to the way she'd been before that evening, he didn't think anything of it.

'So what's up,' Ross said, casually, when he'd finished. He had noticed nothing, of course.

'I've been trying to tell them a funny story,' Chandler said, 'But Rachel keeps interrupting and asking me for details.'

'I do not keep interrupting,' Rachel said, 'I just asked one or two questions.'

'One or two!"

'That's taking an interest in your story,' she said. 'It shows I was listening. You should be grateful. Now, continue with it.'

'All right. Now there was this woman, and she had a sausage dog and – '

'A sausage dog?' Ross interrupted, 'You mean those little german dogs, daschunds?'

'I thought they were dackles.' Rachel said.

'Some people call them that,' Ross said, 'But they're really daschunds. Emily, those people next to your father's house, they had one of those didn't they.'

'Yes.'

'I don't think they're supposed to be that fat though,' he said.

'No,' Emily said. 'They're not. They're rather silly people, and just give him whatever he wants to eat.'

'Thankyou,' Chandler said meaningfully. Emily flinched, but only Phoebe noticed, as Chandler continued with the story. She really is uptight, Phoebe thought, and she's been drinking coffee, which can only make it worse. Just then, Emily picked up her mug, and out of the corner of her eye, Phoebe noticed a slight tremble in her hand. Emily used her other hand to steady the mug, and it seemed to Phoebe just then that if she didn't hold tight of the mug, she'd run right out of Central Perk. Laughter made her realise that Chandler had reached the punchline, which she had missed. Because Emily had managed to laugh on time, even though Phoebe didn't think she'd registered the punchline either, it was Phoebe who came in for teasing, for being in another world.

'I thought you were only supposed be vague,' during pregnancy, not after,' Chandler laughed.

'Where's Joey?' Ross asked, interrupting them.

'He had to go and see his agent,' Monica said.

' – meet a girl,' Chandler said at the same time.

'Meet his agent then see a girl,' Rachel said.

'Wow,' Ross said, 'He's busy.' Emily was looking at the floor again. 'Tell you what,' he said, 'I've been busy, let me tell you what happened to me – ' At this, Emily looked at him instead of at the floor, and listened with undivided attention as he told the story of his day. She didn't contribute very much more to the evening, but Phoebe felt some of the tension disappear while Ross spoke, every time he looked over at her. He looked over at her a lot, more than he looked at Rachel or anyone else, and when it was time for them to go, and for them to say goodbye together, it seemed to her that while Emily wasn't exactly relaxed, she was not so wound up, and not desperate to leave Central Perk.


	6. A View To A Future

'Well,' Ross said, when they got back to the apartment, 'That was great.' Emily nodded, and started getting ready for bed. Ross sat on the end of the bed. 'You got along fine, and everything was fine. We're going to have some great times at Central Perk – you'll see. I won't be able to keep you out of the place. You won't be home and I'll go, aha, I know, I'll find her at Central Perk. You'll even get a caffeine addiction.' He hadn't noticed her reaction to his arrival and decision to sit near Rachel, and he assumed that because he had had a good evening, she had had a good evening too. 'That story Chandler told about the dog was funny.'

'Wasn't it,' Emily said, as she started brushing out her hair.

'A bit cruel though,' he added. Feeling a burst of generosity towards Emily, he said, 'Hey, I know the apartment's a bit small, but would you like a dog? A small one, to keep you company?' Emily said,

'A dog needs a back yard. We'd need a proper house and everything.'

'Yeah,' Ross shrugged. 'You're right. I hadn't thought of that. And you'll be getting a job soon, so you won't really need a companion. Other than me.'

'No, I won't,' Emily said, using makeup remover. Ross took his shoes off and put them away. 'We won't need to get a house for quite a few years,' he said, 'Not until we start a family. I've got one of course, but I mean a family with you.' He got no response from Emily. 'You want one don't you?'

'Oh yes,' Emily said.

'I mean, of course we'll wait for a few years,' Ross said, 'Of course I love Ben, but next time I want to be prepared. We'll plan it all carefully, have a house and get everything ready. It'll be just perfect.'

'Oh,' Emily said. 'You've thought a lot about this.'

'Yes I have. Every time with Ben, when I wish something had been different, I think of how different it's going to be next time. Because I'm not with Carol, a lot of things happen because she decides it's going to happen. Not that I'm blaming her or anything, but I don't have as much of a role in Ben's life as I would like. And I want to be around to watch every step as our child grows.'

'Of course you do.' Emily closed the lid of her make up remover.

'It was really an accident that Ben happened. A happy accident, but the next one, I don't want to be an accident.'

'Isn't Ben proof that a child can be a joy no matter when he comes?' Emily asked, on the threshold to the bathroom.

'Of course,' Ross said, 'But next time,' he said, getting up and putting his arms around her, 'I'd like to know I was actually making a baby when I was doing it. And I want the experience of sharing the whole pregnancy with my wife.' He squeezed her as he said this.

'Of course,' Emily said, 'But even if things don't go according to plan, it would still be great.'

'Why wouldn't they go according to plan?' Ross asked with a frown.

'Well, I might turn out to be infertile,' Emily said.

'You won't be,' Ross said, 'I can tell.' Emily pushed herself out of his arms, went into the bathroom and took her toothbrush from the glass.

'You can't tell everything,' she said.

'You – you don't have health problems do you?' Ross asked uncertainly. It was one of the many things that they hadn't really asked each other about.

'No,' Emily said, 'As far as I know, I'm perfectly healthy. I was just using that as an example.'

'Good,' Ross said.

'I mean, I get nervous when people assume that everything's going to be okay.' There was a catch in her voice and she started brushing her teeth furiously.

'Everything's going to be okay Emily, nothing's going to go wrong,' Ross said. He listened as she brushed her teeth and then said, 'Of course, if for some reason we couldn't have a baby, I wouldn't mind. I've already got a son, so it wouldn't bother me at all. But I'd like children with you. Ben should have brothers and sisters, and I guess he can't ask Carol for any,' he said with a laugh. 'Hmm, this baby making conversations has got me thinking,' Ross said, 'I'd better get ready for bed too.' He took Emily's place in the bathroom, and then joined her in bed and made love to her. Afterwards, he said,

'You won't leave me, will you?' Ross asked.

'Of course I won't leave you,' Emily said. 'I've come all this way to be with you.'

'I-I mean, don't get up in the middle of the night and sleep on the couch, even if you think you might disturb me. I don't like waking up alone,' Ross said. 'It makes me feel like things aren't right between us.'

'I'll stay, then.'


	7. Post Mortem

Post Mortem 

'Well that wasn't so bad,' Monica said, breathing a sigh of relief, when Ross and Emily had left. It could have been so much worse. It could have been unspeakable in fact, but there had been no harsh or even pointed words, no nasty looks. There had been that look of anxiety from Emily when Ross had come in and sat down near Rachel, and Monica had worried that this would be the start of something, but she could not think of a tactful way to intervene. Luckily, there had been no scene, whether angry or tearful, and it seemed to Monica that Emily had calmed down towards the end of the night rather than getting more and more uptight.

'She didn't say much,' Chandler said.

'I don't know why you're complaining about that,' Rachel said, 'I just asked a few simple questions and you were on my case. You were acting like you wanted to hold the floor all night.'

'Can I help it if I'm the wittiest person in the room?' Chandler grinned. Monica couldn't help a smile, but then asked,

'Was it okay for you, Rachel?' Rachel shrugged.

'It's a start, I guess. I don't know that we're ever going to be friends or anything, but we'll be able to manage if that's the worst of it.' Manage? Monica and Chandler looked at each other. If they were all going to stay together then they would have to do better than "manage." When all this had started, they had no idea it was going to end up like this. She had assumed that Emily would just fit in, like she had before – but they had had no idea that the wedding disaster and what followed would happen. She should have known that Rachel was faking it. She should have realised that Rachel was only able to act like she was over Ross when Ross was not fully absorbed by someone else.

'You were okay seeing them together,' Monica said, wondering if her friend was being too stoic. She knew she was suffering.

'I want them to be together, if that makes Ross happy,' Rachel said. He had been pretty clear to her that there had been no chance of getting back together – if he had ended up getting a divorce, there was no reason why he wouldn't have just started dating someone else. It was the reality that she had to work with, whether she liked it or not. 'You know, Joey's the one who's going to be a problem, not me,' Rachel added.

'I never said you would be a problem,' Monica said quickly.

'I know that's not what you meant. Anyone would have expected there to be a problem, just because of what happened, and her attitude before and everything, but Joey is something else.'

'Have there been any issues between Joey and Emily?' Chandler frowned. 'I can't think of any. He didn't mind kissing her in the Spin the Bottle game, and she did give him a chocolate.'

'No,' Monica said, 'It's just when Emily said she didn't want Ross to see Rachel and got him to throw out all his stuff, Joey got upset. You know how upset he got.'

'And he's stayed upset,' Rachel said. 'He doesn't think she's changed and he thinks she's going to change the whole group.'

'Well he's right about that, isn't he? Having her around is going to change the group. There were six of us and now there's seven,' Chandler said.

'How's he going to know that if he doesn't see her,' Rachel said. 'I think I'm the one who's got the most to say about this. And he doesn't know she hasn't changed.'

'Neither do we,' Chandler said.

'So what are we supposed to do?' Rachel demanded. 'If we treat her like she hasn't changed, then we're just going to hurt Ross, and if she has changed then we haven't been fair.'

'I'm not suggesting we shouldn't treat her like she hasn't changed,' Chandler said patiently, 'I'm just saying, it's not unreasonable for Joey to have that view.'

'Yes, it is,' Rachel said. 'It isn't – wasn't – his problem. This is between Ross, me and Emily. I appreciate the support, but if I want to handle things by being civilised then I think you guys should let me, and not start separate fights of your own. How do you think Ross would feel about you picking fights with Emily? She won't have to tell him to keep away from you, he'll make that decision by himself."

"Hey hey," Chandler said, "Calm down, I'm with you on this."

"Anyway, maybe I want to think about other things. Maybe there are other men I'm interested in. Maybe I don't care. Maybe I want to get a promotion, or get another job."

"Maybe there's another guy you're interested in?" Monica asked.

"Maybe," Rachel said.

"Who?" Monica demanded.

"That's for me to know and you to be tortured not knowing about," Rachel smirked.


	8. Unconvinced

**Unconvinced**

Joey didn't want to believe any part of their account of the meeting with Emily, apart from the first look, which he preferred to refer to as "her true colours" and not anxiety. However he understood that that he was annoying everyone (at least, everyone except Ross, whom he was nervous about, and Emily, who was a nobody). Monica and Chandler were initially patient and then irritated, Phoebe humoured him, but looked at him the way he looked at her during her longer songs, so he knew she didn't mean it. He had even tried grumbling about it to Gunther, who had said that it was a good thing because Rachel wouldn't be wasting her time on a man who clearly didn't deserve her.

The thing that stopped him openly complaining about Emily was that Rachel flew into a temper the minute he got started. Poor Rachel, he thought, she'd do anything to stay on Ross's good side, he thought. Never mind, he'd look out for her interests if he could, although just now, he had another project in mind.

So he told them about his latest audition instead. Being the kind of friends they were, they let his previous rantings go, and gathered round to listen. There's one person missing, Joey thought resentfully. Ross didn't come by much any more because he lived too far away. It wasn't fair! Actually, there were two people missing, because Rachel was late, but he didn't mind her absence.

'It's a great part. I'm playing the bad guy.'

'Oh,' Rachel said. 'Why is that good?'

'It's a big part,' Joey said, 'I'll get billed third.' It would be so good if he could get it.

'That's great news,' Monica said.

'Yeah,' Chandler said. He was sitting next to Monica, the way he always did these days. 'So how bad is your bad guy?'

'He's great!' Joey enthused, 'Really subtle.'

'So,' smiled Chandler, 'He doesn't go in and start shooting everything up?'

'No,' Joey, 'At least, not until the end. Most of the time, pretending he's a normal person. He fools everyone that he's really nice when all the time, he's plotting against them.'

Just then, they were aware that Emily had arrived.

'Hi Emily,' Phoebe said. Monica, Chandler, and Joey (reluctantly) were not far behind in their greetings, which Emily returned. She sat near Phoebe.

'How's your day been?' Phoebe asked.

'Not very interesting. I've been job hunting.' She caught a resentful look from Joey, and said hurriedly, 'But I'm interrupting.'

'It's okay,' Monica said, aware that the role Joey had been describing was in line with his suspicions about Emily. 'It's just another audition that Joey's got.'

'Oh, that's great,' Emily said. That's fake, Joey thought, she's just pretending to be nice. 'Is it film or television?'

'TV,' Joey said. 'I've got to go.' He stood up abruptly and left them all in silence.

'Well,' Phoebe said after a pause, 'He must have a lot of lines to learn.'

'A lot,' Chandler agreed. 'If you get a third billing, you must have lots of lines.'

'You might even have the most lines,' Monica said.

'Yes,' Emily said.

'So,' Monica said, 'Tell me about your job search.'

'It's not very interesting. I'm just looking in the newspaper for any work I can get,' she said.

'Any work?' Monica asked, 'But you guys – I mean I know it's a personal question, but I know my brother makes a reasonable amount.' She wondered if this apartment, the price of Emily's arrival was too expensive. Or did Emily have expensive spending habits that she didn't know about.

'We don't have money troubles,' Emily said, 'I just don't want to be a drag on him.'

'He wouldn't see it that way,' Monica said rushing in, hoping that Ross hadn't in fact, made any remarks about money. 'You can afford to look for a job you really want, rather than something you just take.'

'What kind of work do you do, Emily?' Chandler asked, 'We never got to hear.'

'I used to work in a radio station,' she said.

'What?' Chandler said, 'You never said you were in show business!'

'Well, I'm not, I'm a sound technician.'

'Oh,' Chandler said and Emily smiled,

'Yes, "Oh",'

'It's probably better than data entry,' Chandler said.

'I'm sure anything would be better than data entry,' Emily said.

'We could be in a position to compare notes on that,' Chandler said wryly.

'Oh, do you do data entry? I'm so sorry,' Emily said.

'Don't worry Emily,' Monica said, 'He enjoyed it, really.'

'Oh really?' Chandler grinned, giving Monica a secret pinch.

Suddenly the door opened and Ross and Rachel came in together. If there had been a look of anxiety on Emily's face this time, everyone missed it.

'Hey Emily,' Ross said, making straight for her and giving her a kiss.

'Hey,' she said in response. In the middle of greetings, everyone rearranged themselves, except for Monica and Chandler, who made a show of doing so, but simply swapped sides.

'Where's Joey?' Ross asked.

'He had to go,' Monica said, reminded of why had he had left.

'He's got an audition,' Emily said.

'That's great,' Ross said. Rachel put her cell phone on her lap.

'Excuse me while I leave this out,' she said, 'I'm waiting for a call.'

'Who from?' Monica asked.

'Isn't that from whom?' Rachel teased.

'Will you cut that out,' Monica said impatiently. She had been wrongfully deprived of the privileges of a best friend because Rachel would not tell her what was going on, with her unexplained absences and mysterious phone calls. Who could blame her for wanting to spend more time with Chandler if her best friend neglected her this way? Not that Chandler was any kind of Rachel substitute. 'Just tell me what this is all about at once!'

'Meanwhile,' Chandler said, 'The rest of us will choose another topic of conversation like the world price of coffee.' Monica jabbed him with her elbow.

'You do so want to hear this,' she said. But she didn't jab hard.

'Who's the mystery man?' Phoebe asked.

'He's a lawyer called Brad. He's got short brown hair that curls a little – no actual curls because he keeps it short, but you can see them beginning. It just makes you want to touch his hair.' Ross and Chandler ahemed and Rachel continued, 'I met him at a coffee shop.'

'Not this coffee shop?' Chandler asked.

'Another one.'

'Don't say that too loud,' Chandler said, and then the phone rang. Everyone fell silent except for Rachel who carried on a conversation with someone who was apparently the mystery man from the tone of voice she was using.

'He wants to meet me now,' she said, when she'd finished.

'Is he coming here?' Monica asked.

'No,' Rachel said, 'He wants to meet near where he works.' She started to get up off the sofa, 'I'll see you all later.'

Once Rachel had left, Emily suddenly stood up, but she did so, she swayed as though she was about to faint and Ross jumped up to grab her.

'Are you all right, sweetie?' Ross made her sit back down.

'Yes, it's nothing, I just wanted to go to the ladies,' Emily said, making as if to get up again. Ross stopped her.

'Are you ill?'

'No, it's nothing, please don't fuss,' Emily said. 'I really need to go.'

'All right, but I'm coming with you,' he said.

'What?' Emily exclaimed, along with the others.

'I – I just get nervous when you go to the bathroom,' Ross said. She simply stared at him. 'Not when we're at home because we're six floors up and you're not Spiderwoman, but down here, you know, I'd be happier if I was there. I won't watch or anything.' He looked at her with trepidation. Gone was his confidence that he had her under control.

'Oh Ross, I'm not going to go out of the bathroom window again,' Emily said, sounding appalled, 'I'm not,' she insisted, with a shake in her voice. 'Why would I go out of the window again? N-nothing's happened, there – there's no reason, you haven't – I'm not going to.' She threw her arms around him and he held on to her.

'I'm glad you're not,' Ross said.


	9. There's a Monica in There

**There's a Monica in there**

When they got home that evening, Ross and Emily were at first a little shy with each other. Ross was feeling that way because he had exposed his fears so openly, fears that he had half buried from himself. But maybe he'd given himself away before. When Emily said,

'I had no idea you felt that way,' Ross said,

'You must have known a bit. When you got up in the night and I asked you to come back to bed.'

'Well that was bed. I didn't think you meant anything else. You seemed to be managing quite well without me.'

'No I wasn't,' Ross said, 'I was miserable, but I'd given up, because I thought you meant it.'

'I don't know what I meant,' Emily said. 'It was all so horrible.'

'The bad times are over, for both of us,' Ross said.

But not completely, because Ross knew that Joey was avoiding him – or avoiding Emily. It amounted to much the same thing since he was able to go to Central Perk less often than Emily. He was pleased that Emily did go, and he privately thanked the others for making her feel welcome. Joey was the only exception, and when he asked Emily whether she'd seen him, a shadow crossed her face and she said,

'Not much.'

'Does he talk to you? Ask how you are?' Ross persisted.

'No. He doesn't say anything to me. Except hello and goodbye.' Ross frowned.

'Why didn't you say anything?'

'What can I say?'

'Well, that Joey is treating you like this! Being unfriendly, and mean and…'

'What good would that do?' Emily asked. 'If he doesn't like me, then you can't make him like me.'

'Why shouldn't he like you? You never had a quarrel or anything? Nothing happened at – ' He had been going to say The Wedding, but only one disastrous thing had happened at the wedding. Emily shook her head.

'I don't know of anything in particular. He's just very different to the way he was before. Don't fuss.'

'I want all my friends to be together with me on this,' Ross said, 'That was the point. That was why I insisted that you had to accept us all – and now he's behaving like this. He's got to accept you.' Emily looked uncomfortable.

'Why don't you talk to him?' she asked. 'There might be a completely innocent explanation. Or if there's a problem, he might tell you. I – I don't think he'd tell me.'

Ross turned up at Joey and Chandler's apartment unannounced, hoping to catch Joey there. He didn't, but instead found Chandler, who looked surprised to see him.

'Hey Chan,' Ross said, laughing, partly from relief that he didn't have to have it out with Joey, just yet. 'It's just me.' Chandler said,

'Oh Ross, what brings you here?'

'I just thought I'd drop by – I don't get the chance to do it, living so far away.' Sheesh, anyone would think Chandler didn't want him there. He sat down on the couch and looked around the room. 'You guys been tidying up round here. It looks a lot better.'

'Oh,' Chandler said, still standing up, looking nervous. 'We just decided to, er you, know, tidy up.' There was something that suggested that Chandler had just thrown his clothes on. His shirt buttons were not properly done up, and his hair was sticking up on end. And of course he wanted him to leave.

'Hey,' Ross said in a low voice with a sly look on his face. Just tidied up! No way, he knew what Chandler had been doing. 'I'm interrupting something right?'

'No!' Chandler exclaimed loudly, 'No, absolutely not.' That seemed to put paid to the idea that he had someone stashed in his bedroom then.

'Have you been asleep?' Ross asked with a frown.

'Er, yes, jet lag. Terrible.'

'Jet lag? Come on, we got back from London ages ago,' Ross laughed.

'Well,' Chandler said, 'Well, isn't that the darndest thing, it just comes and it goes, without warning. Travel overseas can have just the oddest effects, you know.'

'Yeah,' Ross said, 'Sometimes it give you amnesia.' Feeling more secure, he was starting to feel that he could joke a bit about his mix up with the names. Everything was okay. Almost okay.

'So,' Chandler said, sitting down, making an odd kicking motion as he did so, almost as if he was moving a shoe, possibly a woman's, under the couch. 'What brings you by?'

'It's about Joey.'

'Joey? Oh Joey,' Chandler said.

'Yeah, your room mate. I've noticed that Joey doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with me and Emily and I'm wondering what to do about it.' Chandler looked uncomfortable.

'Oh you've noticed,' he said.

'I suppose everyone knows. What's up with him?'

'He doesn't trust Emily.'

'What?'

'He thinks she's faking being nice.'

'That's just ridiculous!'

'Hey, it's Joey who thinks that, not me,' Chandler said. 'I'm just telling you what I know.'

'I hope you put him right,' Ross said severely.

'Of course. We all did, but he just think we're fools for believing in her.'

'Oh, and what's her grand plan supposed to be?' Ross said sarcastically, but he was angry too, too angry to notice Chandler's sudden expression of anxiety. 'She just waiting to invite everyone to dinner and poison them, like a - a - poisoner?'

'I don't know,' Chandler said. 'It's kind of got lost. I think the idea is that she's going to poison you against all of us.'

'That's ridiculous!' Ross exploded. 'Absolutely ridiculous! Where is Joey? I'm going to have it out with him right here and now. I'll teach him to spread lies about my wife.' Ross had sprung up.

'Wait, Ross!' Chandler exclaimed.

'You can't defend him,' Ross fumed, 'It's indefensible.' And then finally, he noticed. 'Hey, you've been looking kind of jumpy. Is someone else here?'

'Here?' squeaked Chandler, 'Who else could be here?'

'You tell me,' Ross said, thinking he'd worked it out. 'I bet you thought, old Ross wouldn't pick up on it hey? Ross gets a little worked up sometimes and he won't see the obvious. He won't figure it out.' Chandler backed off as Ross worked up his temper.

'Ross - '

'Ha!' yelled Ross, slamming open the door to Joey's room. 'I know you're hiding, Joey!' The noise he made completely hid the noise of Monica emerging from Chandler's room and hiding behind the couch. She got there just in time, as Ross turned back to the room with the announcement,

'He's not there.' His eyes narrowed, and Chandler wondered if he had noticed something behind the couch, but then Ross headed for Chandler's room. Chandler, more relaxed followed him in.

'Hey man, I'm not gay, Joey wouldn't be there, especially when I was having a nap,' Chandler said, while Monica quickly headed for Joey's room. Ross made a noise of dissatisfaction, and they trooped out to the couch again. Chandler was glad that Monica was so fussy about her things. She was not the type to leave tell tale signs of herself in his room.

Ross sat on the couch, dispirited.

'How can Joey be doing this? What did Emily ever do to him?'

'He was just upset over the whole Rachel thing.'

'But that's over now, she's doing her best, you can see she's doing her best.'

'If she's faking, she's doing a great job,' Chandler said.

'She is not faking,' Ross said, severely. 'She's doing the best she can to show her good faith. What more can she do? She's tried to be nice to him, so far as he's given her the chance, and he's just ignored her.'

'I know,' Chandler said, realising he had been a bit tactless with the faking remark. Emily had paid a few more visits to Central Perk and to Monica's apartment than necessary to keep up an illusion. And if it came to faking it, hadn't they all been faking it a bit at the beginning? 'It's partly that Joey doesn't like change. Don't get mad at him. I'll try and talk to him, tell him what kind of trouble he's causing. He'll come round, and in the meantime, he's the one who's missing out.'

'We all miss out,' Ross said, 'If he won't be our friend.'


	10. New Perspectives

New Perspectives 

'To think it was me who was worried about being cut out,' Rachel observed. She had managed to get to Central Perk early for some private conversation with Monica. 'Now he's the one who's cut out.' Monica had told her about the conversation that Ross had had with Chandler, omitting the interesting fact that she had actually heard it, first hand.

'Joey's doing it to himself,' Monica pointed out. 'No-one's asking him to stay away.'

'I know,' Rachel said. 'You know the other night I saw him come into the door and leave the moment he saw Emily was there.'

'He came by?'

'Yes, but he was gone before I could say anything. I didn't see any point in telling everyone that I'd seen Joey come in and then leave again. It would have been embarrassing.' Monica sighed. 'But you know what he did? He pressed his face against the glass to watch us playing snap.'

'Oh no,' Monica said.

'He had his nose squashed against the glass,' Rachel said.

'Oh no,' Monica said again. Why did this have to happen.

'I think he'll weaken,' Rachel said, 'He'll realise what he's missing out on. If Emily can get used to me, then he can get used to Emily. It's not like there's any genuine issue between them.'

'And how about you?' Monica asked. 'How are you and Emily getting on?' Rachel shrugged.

'We don't do anything together. What you see here is everything that happens between us.'

'You're not here that much either,' pointed out Monica. 'You're not holding back are you? She seems to be making an effort.'

'No, it's just that Brad likes to go other places,' Rachel said.

'I've noticed we haven't seen much of Brad,' Monica said drily. 'In fact, we haven't seen anything.'

'Actually, that's also my decision,' Rachel said.

'What?'

'I want things to get started between us first, before I start bringing him round.' Monica nodded.

'That's fair enough. But what is he like?'

'He's great,' Rachel said. 'He likes movies and restaurants and nightclubs, and he notices things about me, like what I'm wearing. He's good at that.' At a look from Monica, she added, 'But he's not too good.' Just then Emily came in and asked,

'Who's not too good?'

'Brad. With clothes.'

'He's slovenly?'

'No. But he doesn't fuss too much either.'

'Oh,' Emily said. 'That's good. You have to wonder about the ones who pay that too much attention.'

'Hey,' Monica asked, 'Are you feeling all right?' Emily was looking a bit pale, even for her.

'What? Oh, I'm fine,' Emily said.

'You just look a bit unwell.'

'That's a nice thing to say,' Rachel said, 'As soon as someone comes in to say she looks unwell.'

'I didn't mean it that way,' Monica said.

'I know. I might be coming down with a bug or something,' Emily said, and then Chandler came in. He kissed all three women and sat by Monica. They stopped talking about Emily's looks and turned to the topic that he opened up.

Ross and Phoebe had joined them at Central Perk and as usual, the married couple left first. On their way home, Emily asked,

'Ross, is there something between Chandler?'

'Monica? And Chandler? You've got to be kidding,' Ross said, stunned, 'What makes you say that?'

'Just something about they way they interact.'

'They're just good friends. You've got to start accepting that a man and a woman can be friends without necessarily meaning anything else.'

'Yes,' Emily said, suddenly chastened. They both knew that reprimand had a double meaning. With less confidence, she persisted. 'But why is Chandler kissing everybody? All of us women?'

'Well you said it yourself, he's kissing everyone,' Ross said. Emily seemed about to add something but Ross forestalled her. 'Anyway, if you'd been around longer you'd know that the whole idea was totally ridiculous. Monica! Chandler!'

'Well what would be wrong with it?' Ross glared at her. Obviously she had no idea what she was talking about. 'As a purely hypothetical situation. I mean Chandler seems to be all right,' Emily said. 'He's clean, had nice manners, good looking, though not as good looking as you, has a job and all that.'

'Of course he's all right.'

'Well?'

'He has commitment problems.'

'Like Joey?' Emily asked, sounding puzzled, as well she might.

'Well not the same as Joey.'

'He's had long term relationships then?'

'Yes,' Ross admitted reluctantly, 'But they didn't last.'

'If they all did, he'd have a harem.'

'You know what I mean,' Ross said, wondering if she was baiting him, but she only asked him mildly.

'Is it usually his fault that the long term relationships break up?'

'No,' Ross admitted, even more reluctantly, thinking of Kathy. That was only one person's fault.

'And he's your friend,' Emily said.

'Yes,' Ross said, firmly. 'Of course he's my friend.'

'If he did date your sister, then there's no reason to think that he'd trifle with her.'

'There's no way I'd let him date my sister,' Ross said.

'But what if she wanted to?' Emily said, unable to help smiling at this.

'No way,' Ross said, 'Why are you so into this idea?'

'I'm not into the idea. I just wondered, that's all.'

'Well don't, I never heard anything more ridiculous in my life.' They completed the rest of the journey silently. Ross wondered, once he'd gotten over the ridiculousness of the whole idea, whether Emily was keeping silent because she was in a sulk, but when he looked at her, her face had a placid faraway expression, and the smile on her face when he spoke to her was too natural to indicate any underlying resentment.


	11. It's Not What It Looks Like

**It's Not What It Looks Like**

Ross hadn't forgotten the Joey problem and had decided to confront him once and for all. He didn't want to have to read the riot act to his friend, but he'd ignored the situation for long enough, may be too long. As it turned out, there was nothing he needed to say.

It began when Emily was on her way to meet everyone at Central Perk. She had become used to the trip there, and had long forgotten her nervousness about New York streets - too much had happened in between her first days in New York and now. So the thought that she might be mugged was far from her mind. Unfortunately, while she was relaxed about New York streets, she had not yet learned the kind of vigilance that the natives use to spot trouble before it starts, so she did not notice the rangy, shify looking man who had followed her, eyeing up her purse. This was being carefully held, so that the man could not do a snatch and runs so instead:

'Gimme your purse!' a rough voice said. Emily turned to the man in shock. She'd heard all the advice about what to do when mugged, but hardly able to believe what was happening, she forgot the lot and said,

'What?'

'Your purse! You deaf lady?' The mugger demanded, showing her a knife and laying a hand on her handbag. She gave out a short scream at the sight of the blade. 'Can it - ' he snarled but out of nowhere, he was grabbed and the knife fell to the ground with a clatter.

'This is a citizen's arrest,' Joey said as the mugger struggled in his grasp.

'You what?' the mugger exclaimed, as he was borne to the ground. Joey finally got the mugger's arm behind his back.

'Someone call the police,' Joey ordered, and a passerby began doing so.

'Hey, I got rights!' the mugger protested, but Joey pushed his face into the sidewalk.

'You can tell that to the cops.'

Once the police had been and gone, Emily said to Joey,

'You were wonderful! I don't know how I can thank you,'

'Oh,' Joey said, 'There's no need to do that. It was nothing.' It wasn't every day that he got to be a hero in real life. It was better than any script he'd had to follow, and the beauty of it was that he'd not had to think twice, he'd just done it.

'Oh no it wasn't nothing,' Emily said, 'He could have cut me with the knife.'

'He was probably just trying to scare you,' Joey said reassuringly.

'I don't know. I just froze. Thank goodness you were there, that's all,' Emily said, and Joey almost blushed.

'It's okay.'

'And I know you don't like me at all, which makes it all the more…'

'No,' Joey said shocked, suddenly feeling bad at being called out on his attitude by the object of it. It was far easier to resent someone in the abstract, when you didn't have to interact with them, especially when you hadn't done something really major for them, like rescued them from a crime. Looking at her now, relieved to be rescued, he found it hard to accuse her, even in his mind, of secretly plotting something against them. Could she have been pretending to be nice? Had she fooled absolutely everyone? Or was he the one who had got it wrong? He felt embarrassed when Emily said,

'I know.'

'No, I meant I don't don't like you,' Joey said and then frowned. The beautiful flow of language and actions seemed to have stopped. 'I mean, you're okay and you're my friend's wife and any wife of his is a wife - a friend of mine. I mean Carol's okay and she's not even Ross's wife any more. We even get on with Susan.' Emily was looking at him puzzled, and he realised how off track he was. 'Anyway, don't worry.'

'Oh.'

'You're shivering, let's get you into Central Perk,' Joey said.

Inside, they started doing ordinary things, like order coffees. Then came a period of intense satisfaction for Joey, because as it happened, each of Chandler, Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe came in individually so that he was able to recount the episode four times. Chandler, who was the audience for all the versions. couldn't help observing that the story became more involved at each telling.

It was as he was getting Emily to re-enact her own role and Chandler to enact the role of the mugger, using a paper tube of sugar in place of the knife for Phoebe's benefit, when Ross came in. All he saw was Emily standing in front of Chandler who was fighting off Joey. Chandler had objected to giving in so weakly, and Joey was a little annoyed at this unhelpful improvisation. Ross dived into the fray and wrenched Joey away from Chandler, ready to sock him in the face. He was startled to hear a united protest of,

'No!' not least from his own wife. He was also surprised to hear a round of applause from the denizens of Central Perk.

'Best version yet!' someone called out.

'I don't know,' said another voice, 'I liked the previous version better.'

'What?' Ross said, looking at them all.

'It's not what you think,' Joey said.

'No, we're only pretending,' Emily said.

'Let Joey go,' Chandler said, and to Joey's relief Ross did. Not that he couldn't take on Ross at any time, if he wanted, but there was no doubt that on occasion Ross could be single minded.

'Sit down,' Monica said, and they all gathered around.

'Okay, will someone tell me what's going on? Emily?' With an apologetic look at Joey, who had been enjoying himself so much, Emily told the story succinctly, highlighting the knife and Joey's action.

'And the police have got him now?' Ross said, once he'd calmed down.

'Yes, thanks to Joey.'

'Well thanks,' Ross said, 'Thanks for rescuing Emily, I appreciate it man.'

'We all appreciate it,' Monica said.


	12. A Secret Is Shared

**A Secret is Shared**

It was some days later when Emily surprised Monica with the statement,

'There seems to be something going on between you and Chandler that you're trying to keep secret.' She and Emily were alone in Monica's apartment and until then had been talking trivia over coffee. Emily's statement surprised her so much that she didn't even think of deception.

'How did you know?'

'It's obvious. Chandler doesn't want to kiss anyone but you. He's just pretending with the rest of us.'

'Oh, I didn't realise it was that obvious.' She had thought they were doing a better job of hiding it than that. If Emily had notied, who else?

'I'm not sure how not now obvious it would be to Ross or anyone else,' Emily said, unasked.

'I don't see why not. They all know me…'

'A lot better than I do,' Emily finished, 'But that's partly the reason why I would pick it up.'

'How so?' Monica asked.

'Because there's no reason for me to think that you two getting together is unusual or unexpected or anything. Everyone can see the same things that I see, but for some reason it seems the others don't really seem to think it's possible for you to get together, so they must be ignoring it. When did it happen?' Monica blushed.

'Well, I don't know if you'd be… happy at how it happened.'

'Whether _I'd_ be happy?' Emily asked in surprised. 'What do you mean?'

'It was the night before your wedding.'

'Why wouldn't I be happy about it?'

'But what the wedding…'

'Being a farce?' A shade of bitterness crept into Emily's voice and Monica regretted not having made up some other pretext. They'd done such a good job of looking forward that it was getting easier to put it behind them. Bringing up the wedding threatened to take them backwards. 'Oh, well, at least something went right.'

'Right?' Monica asked in puzzlement. With a short laugh, Emily said,

'Yes, the bridesmaids are supposed to get off with the groomsmen you know. It's practically their right…'

'You are mad,' Monica said bleakly.

'Not about you, never about you,' Emily assured her, 'And it's not that I'm angry or mad, as you put it, but I wish everything else had gone right with it.'

'I know, but you're here now, and everything is working out with you and Ross.' Emily's nod came readily enough.

'Yes.'

'And you're not worried about Rachel?' Monica asked, deciding to be bold since the wedding had already been mentioned.

'No,' Emily said, and again, Monica thought that was a candid enough answer. 'Maybe at first, but not now.' It was true that apart from the first meeting, Emily did not look at Rachel with suspicion. Monica had even been with Emily when they had come across Ross and Rachel alone at Central Perk, and she had noticed no tension. Monica took hold of her hand.

'Then, it's not so bad.'

'No, of course it isn't. But let's talk about you - unless you'd rather not.' But since Emily had already shown that she knew, Monica wasn't worried about talking to her. In fact she welcomed it, having not had anyone to confide in.

'I'm fine about it,' Monica said.

'So you and Chandler have been an item since the wedding? And no-one's supposed to know?'

'Yes, because Ross will go mad, really, so please don't say anything to him,' said Monica urgently. Emily looked guilty, and Monica said in dismay, 'You already have?'

'Not exactly. I suggested the idea, and he said it was ridiculous. I never said you were actually an item. I didn't _know_ that.'

'Ridiculous? Did he say anything else?' Monica asked.

'Er…'

'Please Emily, I've got to know. I know we can't keep it a secret forever and if I know what his attitude is, then I can plan how to let him know.'

'Well, we weren't talking seriously,' Emily prevaricated. 'It would be different if we were.'

'Oh come on,' Monica pleaded.

'He was rather negative.'

'Rather negative?'

'He said 'No Way',' Emily admitted.

'Oh no.' There really was no hope for her.

'He'll get used to the idea. I don't know what the big deal is anyway. He should be happy that you're happy. And Chandler's his friend for goodness sake. I mean he's not an ex convict or a drug addict or a womaniser - is he?' Monica laughed nervously.

'Of course not.'

'Then just tell him, and let him deal with it.'

'That's fine,' Monica laughed nervously, 'I'm happy to do that, but I think I want to be in Yemen when he finds out.'

'How's he going to find out if you go to Yemen?'

'I'll send him a postcard.'

'Monica!'

'You don't know him very well yet, Emily,' Monica said.

'It can't continue like this though,' Emily said. 'It's absurd, having the pair of you running around to be intimate when no one suspects, like a pair of naughty schoolchildren. Goodness, sooner or later someone's going to try and set one of you up on a date, and then what will you do?'

'I don't know. Don't tell him,' Monica said.

'I won't tell him, but I think we should make a plan so that he is told.'

'How about you guys go to London for a holiday and I tell him at the airport?' Monica suggested with a smile.

'I won't rule it out,' Emily said, 'But I'm sure we'll be able to think of something better. What does Rachel think of all this?'

'Rachel doesn't know.'

'Oh,' Emily said, 'Why not?'

'I was just going to keep the whole thing totally secret. The only reason we're talking about it now is because you guessed.'

'Well, I would tell her if I were you. She might think it's funny that I know and she doesn't. And maybe she can help. ' That was a dimension Monica hadn't thought of.

'You're right. I mean, she won't mind, but…'

'It's better you tell her,' finished Emily. 'Tell her before you tell Ross. And her better knowledge of Ross might help.'

'Oh well,' Monica said, realising that this admission might have been difficult, 'Sometimes I wonder about that. But yes, I'll tell her. And maybe we three can figure something out.'


End file.
